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Nothing binds you together nor tears you apart like family, especially if it’s a Sam Shepard family. Our Shoes Are Red/The Performance Lab brings us True West, Shepard’s tale of sibling rivalry. Dmae talks with artistic director Devon Allen and actors Matt DiBiasio and Kenneth Baldino who portray the two brothers. And in the second half, we’ll have a commentary by eastern Oregon writer Bing Bingham.

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More about True West: Two estranged brothers haven’t seen each other for five years. Austin, a writer, aims to pen the great American screenplay, while he’s housesitting for his vacationing mom. Lee, a drifter and thief returns to their mother’s house after living in the desert for a while. The two immediately start fighting and ultimately begin working on the screenplay together amid drinking, brawling and living off toast.

Considered the final play in Shepard’s Family Trilogy of plays about the myths of American life and pop culture, True West has rarely been done in Portland even though it was first premiered in 1980.

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“I wanted to write a play about double nature, one that wouldn’t be symbolic or metaphorical or any of that stuff. I just wanted to give a taste of what it feels like to be two-sided. It’s a real thing, double nature. I think we’re split in a much more devastating way than psychology can ever reveal. It’s not so cute. Not some little thing we can get over. It’s something we’ve got to live with.” – Sam Shepard on TRUE WEST’

All shows are at Lincoln Performance Hall, Studio Theatre located at 620 SW Park Avenue, Portland, OR 97201.

Previews start Wednesday, July 24th (Wednesday preview free on a first come first served basis) and Thursday, July 25. Opening night is Friday, July 26 and runs Thursdays through Sundays through August 18, 2013.

And in the latter part of the show,we bring you a commentary from Bing Bingham who lives on a remote ranch in northern Central Oregon where he works as an independent writer, photographer and radio producer.